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If
the bazillion packagings and repackagings of Mahalia Jackson's music confound
you and you don't know where to start, this expertly compiled, carefully
annotated double-disc box set is for you. Jackson wasn't just gospel music's
first international superstar--she was among its earliest adherents and
inventors. Working with the great composer and former blues singer Thomas A.
Dorsey in the late 1930s, Jackson gave a distinctly blues-trained, jazzy sass
and grace to Dorsey's material and the other hymns and spirituals she sang. More
than any other performer, she helped to define gospel music itself as a
transcendent, rootsy, melismatic, and heady spiritual sound. Culled from her
sides for Columbia in the 1950s and 1960s, some of the arrangements in the set
are not ideal and may sound quite a bit dated, but that voice shines and soars
and dives straight to the center of your heart. Whether backed by a simple organ
or piano or with full studio accompaniment, Jackson's booming, instantly
recognizable contralto is indescribable, exciting, and forever a wonder to
behold. And if you think that's an exaggeration, you don't own this record.
--Mike McGonigal
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1.
God's Gonna Separate The Wheat From The Tares
2. Keep Me Every Day
3. God Shall Wipe Away The Tears
4. Oh My Lord
5. I Want To Rest
6. Wait Until My Change Comes (I'm Goin' To)
7. He Knows My Heart
8. I'm Going To Tell God
9. Move On Up A Little Higher (Pts. 1 & 2)
10. Move On Up A Little Higher (Pts. 1 & 2) - (alternate take)
11. I Have A Friend
12. Dig A Little Deeper
13. Tired
14. Even Me
15. In My Home Over There
16. If You See My Saviour
17. There's Not A Friend Like Jesus
18. Since The Fire Started Burning In My Soul
19. Amazing Grace

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